Responding to the border crisis in Del Rio, Texas, and broader immigration issues, more than 150 Catholic organizations last week implored President Joe Biden to end a policy called Title 42 — federal permission for the immediate expulsion of migrants and limitation of their right to seek asylum.
The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee and the head of Catholic Charities USA issued a joint statement Sept. 22 urging humane treatment of Haitians and other migrants as their numbers grow in southern Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Images of the U.S.-Mexico border in Del Rio show an unprecedented scene: More than 10,000 migrants huddled underneath the city’s international bridge seeking asylum, with many more constantly wading the waters of the Rio Grande River with the same desire.
Mario Ramirez of Milwaukee helped carry part of a homemade statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that bobbed in the massive crowd headed toward the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building Sept. 21.
Now that passing immigration reform measures in the budget reconciliation package may be off the table, immigration advocates fear a divided Congress won’t stray from party lines to pass immigration reform through traditional means.
When Catholic Charities San Antonio staged a trip to the Del Rio International Bridge Saturday, the purpose was twofold: They drove down with essential items for the thousands of migrants stationed there, and subsequently brought migrant families back inland to help them continue their U.S. journey.
As thousands of migrants congregate underneath the Del Rio International Bridge, the Archbishop of San Antonio says the archdiocese is ready to help, but he fears an already overwhelming situation at the small Texas-Mexico border city will get worse.
In Tijuana, on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border, Father Pat Murphy assesses at least 2,000 migrants camping on a cement pavilion outside of an immigration facility. His migration shelter is full, and even more people are living on the streets.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in a ruling late Aug. 13 blocked Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security from implementing a June 1 memo in which he formally ended the Trump administration’s Migration Protection Protocols, known as MPP or the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
At his general audience Aug. 11, Pope Francis told French-speaking visitors that it was “with great sorrow” that he learned of the Aug. 6 murder.
